Saturday, October 18, 2008

Conundrum

Okay... yes it's been a long time since I've posted. Yes, I know... there are sooooo many people that have missed me ;). And YES... this post is a blatant attempt to getting out of cleaning my house after a very fun baby shower for a very cute girl.

..but yes I do have a small amount of inspiration probing at me to receed to my own little corner of the blogosphere and write.

I have a little connundrum (yes... I have been looking for an excuse to use this word in an actual sentence... and yes run on sentences that are about nothing but wanting to use a particular word count as a sentence) (as do sentences containing several sets of parenthesis). (should I end that with a period? hmmm)

Anyway... I consider myself a pretty good friend, or at least I try to be... that is if your "good friend criteria" is someone that will tell you to XYZ & won't let you go out in public with a boogie hanging out of your nose. If your outfit looks really ridiculous I may say something, but you should probably disreguard any fashion advice I give because my husband dresses me. I tend to be kind of a flake sometimes (working on that), I go through weird shy periods when I don't have much to say and then obnoxious periods when I have TOO much to say, and I may or may not remember your birthday (I can barely remember my own and I've had the same one for almost 29 years now...) The point is I mean well and I really do try to treat people the way I would want to be treated. If I have a glob of unidentified goo hanging on to one of my teeth PLEASE tell me so I don't walk around looking ridiculous.

That said, here is the conundrum (that's twice in one post, double points!)

So I went to Walmart the other day to pick up some prints. As I am standing in line playing with Miss Thang, I look up and am greeted by the exposed (although underwear bound) derriere of the woman standing in front of me. "Hello" it says, "Please stare at me. Good luck holding in your fits of loud, immature, innappropriate laugher as you stare at me. Please don't tell my owner I am here... I am so enjoying the view.. It gets so stuffy stuck inside these old 1980's "Hammer style" slick pants."

Yes, her pants were unfortunately completely split up the back... were talking top to bottom. Hanging wide open.

Okay, so my first reaction is to tap this sweet woman on the shoulder and inform her that her rear end is not only exposed to the viewing 'pleasure' of all of Wallyworld, but that it is in fact, talking to me. But I wisely decided that I do not have time to fit a trip to the looney bin into my already hectic schedule. But here's my other conundrum... it is one thing to tell someone they have something in their teeth, or that their fly is open. That is something that can be immediately fixed. PLEASE tell someone when they are unknowingly being vexed with a problem such as these so they can avoid further humiliation. BUT (hehehe... no pun intended.. told you I'm immature) should I decide to tell this lady that her bottom is breaking free of captivity what can she do about it? The photo center of our friendly neighborhood Walmart is conveniently located at the very back of the store. There is no quick way out. There is no empty aisle to sneak down to avoid exposed cheek detection. And there is no way to hold your head high as you tramp out of the such a busy store with a split down the entire backside of your pants.

This lady is going to be humiliated eventually no matter what.

SO... do I tell her now and and create a walk of shame for her out to her car? Or do I let her enjoy the rest of her shopping trip in ignorant bliss only to be horrified once she gets home?

Either way she is going to mortified later, but there is nothing you can do about it at the store, so why drag out the torture right?

Yes... sadly that last question was posed as a pathetic attempt to soothe my troubled soul about the decision I made. I said nothing at all.

And as much as I would like to argue that I felt like it was the right thing to do... in all honesty I didn't say anything because I didn't have the guts to do it. I didn't have the guts to watch a womans eyes pop out in horror and begin her walk of shame through the gallows of Walmart.

Instead I watched her bebop away carefree as ever and continue the rest of her shopping trip as an old woman standing next to me made eye contact with me and made a wincing, "Oooh.. that's so sad face".

Judge away.

But what would you do? Be honest.

12 comments:

Natalie said...

ok..I have actually told someone that their pants were split in the back and that her hiney was hanging out...she was so grateful...but I did feel stupid saying anything. Next time...I will let the poor suckas fimd out on their own!

Heather said...

I would have done exactly as you did. It seems though that you would notice something like that. I would, the extra "cool" breeze as you are walking down the aisles. Was she old, young, grandma, early 20's? Poor thing!

Young Family said...

I probably would have done the same thing.

So glad you finally posted. You said you would post during daily naptime; I guess I must say I'm sorry you little ones aren't napping :)

Like sisters musings about life... said...

ummm finally you posted again....these posts always make me either think, or laugh out loud! I have missed my daily fix my friend...so my answer is this...I think sometimes its just nice not to say anything and let her have some hope be it small hope...that nobody noticed....and that perhaps it happened after her very public jaunt to the ginormous discount store. Seriously, by not telling her you gave her serious hope that nobody saw....call me anytime you need justify your actions....I am good at it....LOL

Jennifer Gravley said...

I'm just glad it was you in the situation and not me. That is a spur of the moment decision, do you or don't you? Hope I never have to decide. But if it ever happens to me... would you PLEASE tell me!

Meili said...

Ha ha ha!!! Maybe she knew all along, and was just trying to attract some attention from the gentlemen.

I'm actually with you on this one. Since there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, maybe it was more humane to let her be horrified later and hope that no one noticed.

Arian said...

First of all. Yes, you are a great friend. I have narrowly avoided many embarrassing situations thanks to your honesty. :) Secondly, I would have done the exact same thing you did. If it were me and I got home to find my pants split, I would try very hard to convince myself that perhaps no one noticed. If someone pointed it out to me then I would not have any room for persuasion to make myself feel better. Either way... SO SAD!
And, I've missed your posts!!!

Emily said...

I probably would have just laughed in my head and then immediately called my mom or husband or someone to tell them about it. I would say something if it was a quick fix like you said, but otherwise it would just be embarrassing for them.

Quela said...

Are you sure you weren't on candid camera or something? You know the ones where they plant something funny in front of people just to see how they react. And you were one of the ones who said nothing, but I bet they got a nice shot of your stare/jaw hang out of it.

I think I would have done the same thing. Save her the extra embarrassment. Maybe her pants ripped a little more when she got in her car and just assumed the whole thing ripped then. See, no harm done.

Hey, I just realized that embarrassment has an ironic pun hidden in it. I wonder if that's how the word came about... I know, I'm horrible!

Joe and Kenzie said...

That is so funny. I think I would a have said something then offer to help but I don't know... I'm not sure when it came down to it I would actually have the guts...

jamie said...

Okay if we are being honest....I would like to think I would have told her...but I think I would have taken the exact same road you did...that should make you feel better right. Alot of people here would do the same thing...wait a min. mabye that doesn't make me feel better but worse. I would want someone to tell me my big but was showing off.....hmmmmm

Stacy Kay said...

Let me first say that I use the word "conundrum" almost every day since I have been told that I AM a conundrum. . . Anyways, you know that I would tell her, although I did not tell a woman at the doctors office today that her buttom was peaking out of her pants. But she was a flustered new mom and you just don't do that.